Where would Livonia Stevenson's boys soccer team have been Tuesday night without its Austins?

Potentially, in a world of hurt.

Thanks in large part to senior captain Austin Rynicki and junior goal-keeper Austin Kaczmarek, the Spartans clipped host Salem, 1-0, to propel them to within one victory from clinching the school's first KLAA Central Division title since 2008. The clincher could come Thursday night when the Spartans host South Lyon East.

Rynicki played stellar all night along the back line, helping to defuse a series of Rocks threats.

But it was his high-flying header goal off a mid-field free kick by Philip Vrzovski with 13:20 left that proved to be the difference in the high-drama match-up.

"I wasn't going to go in at first; I was just going to let [Philip] kick it in," Rynicki said, recounting the game-winning net-finder. "At the last second Philip told me to go in, he played it in and nobody on their team followed me. I knew it was going in once it hit my head.

"I knew we could hold on with our defense, so when the ball went in the net, I knew we had the game."

Kaczmarek enjoyed a relatively low-stress first half when the ball stayed mainly in the Spartans' end of the pitch. But led by Max Kummer, Salem turned on the heat during the latter stages of the contest, forcing Kaczmarek to bring his "A" game.

"It was 0-0 most of the game so I was just doing everything I could to keep a clean sheet," Kaczmarek said. "Once we scored the goal, it was just a matter of our defense holding them out to win the game."

Stevenson head coach Ken Shingledecker said his team's performance was brilliant, especially considering the way the Rocks battled from the opening touch.

"This win was absolutely huge for us," said Shingledecker, whose state-ranked team improved to 11-2-1 overall and 7-1-1 in the Central. "It puts us in a position to win the Central Division, and from what I understand, it's been a while since Stevenson has done that.

"Everyone is excited. The kids have worked extremely hard for this and they deserve it. Our goal-keeping and defense have been outstanding the past month, and that's usually the recipe for a successful season.